Cardboard Scrapper 2016

How many just cardboard customers do you service monthly? At what rate do you pick up new customers? Just trying to get an idea on how many customers supply you with cardboard to get you to your monthly tonnage.

good hustle by you st regis...i live in philly and most mid size food stores have balers for cardboard....dollar tree..wawa(our version of 7-11)...they are not big bales.i always wondered who picked them up because they are not loose in a recycle dumpster mixed with other recyclables...im in northeast part of city and there is cardboard galore literally....find a chain of stores that bales their cardboard and your on your way

Hi Gus4113,

If you are in Philly then you have probably run into me on the road while going to work or the supermarket. Ya, I'm the guy picking up those bales. I was just at Franklin Mills last week picking up scrap. I'm based in the other side of town but go there often. I just made it back from King of Prussia for a truckload today. I wish I collected from Wawa because I sure do go there enough for my smokes. The small bales are nice and easier to handle, but I need to break them down and re-bale into larger bales that my buyer wants. Extra work but not complaining. See you around town!

Originally Posted by Ace

How many just cardboard customers do you service monthly? At what rate do you pick up new customers? Just trying to get an idea on how many customers supply you with cardboard to get you to your monthly tonnage.

Ace,

Sounds like you want a nice clean number to plug into a spreadsheet, haha. But it's more complicated than that. Regular pickups I'd say are about 60-70 but some I pickup twice a week and others twice a month. The hospital I collect from has about 3 tons a week while the pizza shop I go to for lunch or the mechanic I bring my truck to probably doesn't generate more than a ton all year. Also, in Jan and Feb this year I only went collecting about once a week, mostly to by biggest suppliers. The weather was bad and my broker asked me to slow it down because Asia was closed for much of Feb for holidays. I also took a few weeks off in Oct after a busy summer season where my broker wanted everything I could get my hands on.

Basically when starting out, I asked for cardboard everywhere I went and left a business card with everyone. But I am really maxed out right now and couldn't take on more without hiring someone. The only new customers I take on are through word of mouth or located next to existing pickups when my truck isn't full. The focus now is on trying to do more with the companies I currently collect from. Waste Mgmt is an easy target because my business was built on their customers. Will need to think this over and maybe kick around ideas with this forum when the time is right. I'm off on my final collection tonight, then the weekend starts - woohoo!